In over the road trucking, flat bed trailers are often used to haul loads. To secure a load on a flat bed trailer it is necessary to strap a load down. For this purpose strap winches are often located around the perimeter of the flat bed, these winches allow the driver to cinch down straps from a position standing on the ground.
The strap winches usually have a cylindrical lug having holes that allow for turning the winch to wind the strap. Typically the strap is tossed over the load and the strap is secured, then the winch is turned to cinch the strap down over the load. A one way pawl in the winch keeps the strap from unwinding.
To get enough leverage the driver will commonly use a winch bar. These bars are commonly several feet long and have a tip sized to fit in the hole in the winch lug. The driver places the winch bar tip in the lug and turns the winch lug, typically turning the winch a quarter turn with each placement of the winch bar.
One problem with this arrangement has been that the winch bars are dangerous to use. The driver must place a lot of force on the bar as it is turning and it is all too common for the bar tip to slip out of the lug hole. When the bar slips, under the amount of force applied, the driver is almost always hurt . . . sometimes seriously.
Most winch bars have a slight bend just before the tip. This bend allows the driver to turn the bar about its axis to one of two positions to get a grip in a hole. This is necessary because the winches are commonly mounted right under the trailer bed and with just four holes around the periphery of the winch lug, a hole is often not in an accessible location. The bend in the tip gives the driver more access. The problem with the bend in the tip is that the bar is only stable in one position, in the other position a slight twist of the bar under load will lead to the slip accident described.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,565 to Chan discloses one proposed solution to the problem of the winch bar slipping out. The device to Chan uses a series of steps or notches to hold the winch bar in place against the hole in the winch lug. This solution has a couple problems. First the necked down or notched areas are going to be subject to breakage. Truckers attempt to put a lot of leverage on these bars and breakage can be a problem even without these notches. A second limitation is that these notches or necked down areas will not prevent the instability caused by a slight twist, the winch bar can still rotate relative to the hole and this rotation leads to many of the accidents. A third problem with the design of Chan is that the holes in the lug are subject to extreme crushing caused by the leverage applied. It is not unusual to have a hole as much as xc2xc inch out of round, it is unclear if the shape dependent design proposed by Chan would work when the holes are not shaped correctly.
In addition to the load straps, the driver has other tasks to perform. On a flat bed trailer a tarp is often use to cover the load, the driver must position this tarp over the load. Also there are handles to release the fifth wheel and to release the axle to move the trailer wheels for different loads. All these tasks require the driver to either climb onto the trailer or to climb under it. Climbing on or under the trailer is a dangerous and difficult task. Most drivers seek ways to minimize these situations.
The present invention solves the limitations of the prior art devices. The current invention provides a winch bar with two stable positions of engagement with the winch lugs. The winch bar provides two positions of engagement with the winch lug, but the winch bar can not twist in either of these positions. The winch bar engagement is not dependent on the shape of the hole in the winch lug, so that the user will experience reliable, safe performance even where the lug holes are worn through use. The winch bar is strong, and its tip will not catastrophically fail and snap off. Further the winch bar provides a useful hook that can be applied to other jobs commonly encountered on a flatbed truck trailer such as the need to thump tires, operate the lever on the fifth wheel, operate the lever on the tandems and reach a tarp draped over a load.